Sara

I got a lot more accomplished today than I had otherwise planned. My plan had been to go to the mall to scope out Waldenbooks and then to drop off a box at a
UPS drop off to send back to Zappos. In case you guys don't know Waldenbooks/Borders is closing so everything is crazy on sale. Monday I got $200 worth of graphic novels and some regular books for $100. Today I got $120 worth of books for $50.

That wasn't all I got done.

• Mall
  
• UPS drop off
  
• new tires
  
• alignment
  
• walked all over the place while car work was being done
  
• bought clearance yarn
  
• installed new RAM on desktop
  
• backed up Vincent
  
• reformatted Vincent
  

Installing the RAM was quite an adventure. I originally had 4 GBs in two slots at 2GBs a stick. There were two empty slots. I had bought 8GB on two sticks so 4GBs a stick. Originally I just installed the two sticks in the empty slots, which didn't work so well. I had to crawl around on the floor hooking and unhooking wires and popping RAM in and out for about an hour before I finally found the sweet alignment that got the computer to boot and recognize all 12GBs of RAM. Thankfully I have not had to go into the BIOS yet to try and figure out timing and crap because, well, I am not that saavy. If it works, it works. I'm down with that.

Tomorrow I need to do housework. Saturday I have plans with a friend to sit around, btich about work and drink some wine.

I have a story about work, but I'm not sure I want to get into it now. I would also need to flock it.

I feel that I should explain a little more to everyone I freaked out a bit.

Everyone with the bank and their fraud department has been really nice so far. The card in question has basically been canceled and a new one (new number and everything) is being sent to me. The charge for that card can even be refunded. So far none of the charges have gone through. If they do my bank will contest them and get me the money back but so far it looks like the fraudulent charges won't even affect me all that much, which is good.

Last night's posting was a bit of a giant, stressed out knee jerk reaction. I know how much you all love me, and I'm very thankful to have you.

I still have not heard about the other job position because the head of that department is on vacation.

I also have my period so that's making me more RAWR and WOE than normal.

For the most part things have been pretty good, and I love my IJ RPG so much. Go Blackwater.

I currently have a headache and need to eat, but I wanted to update you all and say thanks for all the support.

ETA: As far as the car, well, that was a $500 money suck, but it no longer leaks when it rains, which is good because it was leaking into the dash and all over wires. So that needed to be fixed and there isn't much I can do about it other than suck it up. All this shit just has terrible timing.

Dear World;

I didn't really need this. No, really. I didn't. The car, the job and now my fraudulent charges on my check card?

I can't deal.

You win.

I'm a miserable ball of fail and no one loves me. I'm sorry for even trying.

I've had what I'm going to consider a busy weekend so far.

On Thursday I ran errands and got the car's tires fixed. Finally. It took two trips for them to notice what was wrong and fix it. It's only a $20ish fix, though, so it never bothers me too much. When I was there two weeks ago, I paid $10 for a tire rotation so I don't think they're ripping me off. It was just that the hole or issue or whatever wasn't big enough to find last time and this time it was. When I get new tires, I'm going there. I trust them.

I also started getting some apps together for a new RP game that mizzmarvel pointed me at. I think it'll be a lot of fun. I seriously miss RPing.

Friday was getting the taxes done, cleaning the oven (it was terrible and needs its own post), making the first king cake of the season and then, yep, doing two more apps for the RP game mentioned above.

Taxes are a major argh, though. My work keeps withholding money for Kentucky instead of Indiana, which ends up screwing me over because I owe Indiana enough that they penalize me for it. I basically have to file Kentucky, Indiana and Federal. Kentucky and Federal give me money back and then I have to turn around and pay a whole year to Indiana at once. It bites. I have to go yell at work about getting it fixed on Monday again. I did it last year, too. Hopefully this year it will stick because I hate pay $177 to get my taxes prepared when they're actually simply enough I can do them myself other than the whole multiple state thing.

Today I have already been to the post to mail Kentucky taxes (no online return for them, wtf) and mizzmarvel's Christmas/birthday box since the item I was waiting for finally arrived. Then I need to make this week;s lunches, do dishes and get RP stuff going.

Of course my monthly helper is doing its best to sap all my energy and making me hate sitting in my desk chair so grrrr.

So. I called my dad to tell him about the accident (late I know) and to ask him to come down next weekend to help me find a new car. His suggestion was to call the lot I bought Ophelia from and see what they had. Turns out they had another 2007 silver Chevy Cobalt only with about 17,000 less miles on it and a sunroof. The payments are about $10 more. I bought it. I'll get it tomorrow after I return the rental car.

Wow. That was over a lot quicker than I expected.

I am out more money than I'd like, but most of the down payment for the new car is from the claim payment from the old car. Tax rebates will cover the rest.

How to Name Your Car:

Do not name your car after:

• spaceships that continual break
  
• famous literary characters who off themselves
  
• vampires who have the propensity to sparkle
  
• prisons
  
• disasters

Name your car after:

• literary characters with longevity
  
• spaceships that never need fixing because they are badass
  
• gods
  
• He Who Shall Not Be Named

My car is totaled. This could either be good or bad. Either way it means more headaches and waiting and finding a new car and expense.

So, um, I think I'm going to just sulk at home tonight, order a pizza, crack open a bottle of wine and watch movies and crochet. It's pathetic, but it's all I can do right now.

I won't know if the payment from the insurance will cover my load with enough over for a good down payment for another car until tomorrow. I can't go get my things from the Cobalt until tomorrow. I can't sign anything until tomorrow. And there's certainly no point in going to look at cars until I not only have a good idea of what I can spend but also have the money, which will take much longer than tomorrow I can assure you. I'm stuck at the point where I'm going to be using this rental car for an unknown period of time.

Argh.

As of this morning, I have not heard anything back from the body shop about the estimate/time frame on the repair. I'll give it until after noon then I'll call them for an update. I also went ahead and booked a rental car to start tomorrow and go through March 5th (for now). I can apparently extend/shortage that as need be. Hopefully I don't need it longer than that because the damn thing is going to cost me a little over $200 a week. I don't have that sort of extra cash floating around all willy nilly shouting, "Spend me! Spend me!"

Currently the insurance deductible is going to eat up (and then some) the $400 refund I got from KY for 2009 taxes. I have another $1500 they owe me for last year, but it's not here yet. Since it's for a previous year, it could take a while. This means that I'll just be hitting up the poor credit card for the rental fees and then paying those off after the refund comes in. It really sucks. I wanted to use the refund money for a PS3 and for a vacation somewhere. There were also a few concerts I was interested in. Guess I'll just suck it up and wait for the outcome. I'll put those things on hold. God, I hate putting everything on hold. Sometimes it seems like my whole entire life is on hold just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Today I'll get little chores done. Dishes, laundry, go to the store for light odds and ends. I'm sure I could get Mom to take me to the store but, really, not interested in that. And I don't feel like calling other friends and putting them out.

I think I'll do a Buddha Box card later, too. I could use a little uplifting. Hopefully I'll have a good card for today.

Just got back from going to the Urgent Care Center to make sure that nothing was worse than it felt. The doctor confirmed what I had though: bruises and torn/pulled muscles. It's okay. The car insurance will pay for the Urgent Care Center visit. I got a prescription for muscle relaxers.

Tomorrow I think I'm just going to get things done around the house and take it easy some more. I'm thinking laundry, dishes, maybe some cooking but nothing major.

Saturday I'll get the rental car situation figured out because tomorrow they should be calling me with the estimate/time frame on the car.

I was in a car wreck on the way home last night. I'm pretty much ok, but the car is a real mess. I didn't hit anyone else. Hit a slick spot on an on ramp while going slow that made me lose control of the car, hit the side of an on ramp and spin my car around. The front is pretty well jacked up, and I have some monster bruises.

I am currently working on calling insurance, car repair place, warranty office, etc. about getting everything arranged. At this point I have no idea if my car is fixable. The airbag didn't pop, which I've been told is a good sign that, despite the damage, the collision wasn't that hard.

I have to see if my extended warranty covers a rental car under these circumstances. Otherwise I guess I'll just have to pay for it out of pocket, which I don't know if I can afford at this point.

Argh.

Things started out pretty well this morning. It was like that Beatles song. "Woke up, got out of bed, ran a comb across my head." Same as usual.

Until I started driving to work. I'm on I-65 in Indiana heading toward the bridge when I see a sign declaring I-65 South (my expressway) all lanes blocked at the airport. I feel a little bit of panic because, um, I need this road and then continue on my way, trusting that whatever the hell is going on will be cleared before I'm there. I leave for work at 11:30am. It's what I do. I sign in at 1:30pm. I normally get to work a little after noon, which gives me plenty of time to find a desk, get settled and chat with various and sundry people so I can get a feel for how the day is going.

I cross the bridge. Traffic seems fine. We're moving.

And then we're not.

And then it's an hour later and I've yet to move very far.

I can't turn the air on in my car if it's not moving. In fact, if I have to sit for long periods of time I have to turn the heater on so the car won't overheat.

Here I am stuck on the expressway with the heater on high, the front windows rolled down (because the back ones refuse to budge anymore) sweating my ass off. I am so hot and covered in sweat that even if my car could suddenly fly I would go home rather than work. I am disgusting.

My friend Ryan calls. He lives in New Albany, too. He's also stuck. Neither of us knows a way to work that does not in some way, shape or form involve I-65 South.

Around 1pm I call work and explain that I am in the traffic from hell and there is no way I can make it in because my car is overheating and it needs to go home.

My car had, by this point, already stalled out on me once.

I find an exit. I have no idea where it goes but I creep through traffic onto it.

Long story short, I got onto Eastern Boulevard which got me to Bardstown and I took Bardstown to I-264 West, which takes me across the other bridge and home.

I'm home. I've taken a shower, downed fluids, changed all my clothes and am about to head over to my mother's to do something with her because she's off and I am, too. I'll get an occurence for calling in but fuck it. By the time I would have gotten to work I would have been in no mood to deal with people.

The cherry on top? My period started.